End of School Year Wrap Up!

No, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth. I've been a bit busy! Wrapping up the "end" of our first full homeschool year, finishing the homeschool co-op semester, having and going to meetings regarding Common Core, Education advocacy and legislation. I'm ready to relax a bit this summer!

We've had a good year. Busy, stressful, had it's ups and downs, but it was far better than I thought it would be. I'm not going to lie I was deeply concerned about being with my kids 24/7. I was one who really, really, REALLY wanted her break when they were in school. But things change, people adapt and we work it out! We fight, we scuffle, they get punished, I make mistakes along with them, but in the end I think we're doing pretty good! We even finished 95% of the educational things I wanted to do! (Pssst....public school teachers never finish all of the book either.)

So we've had some awesome field trips, great lessons, fun experiments and learned a lot! I learned more from their history book just this year that I probably ever did in school, likely because they generally don't teach ancient history in schools anymore.

So it's been a busy, fun, crazy year but we had a good time overall, learning. We thoroughly enjoyed our homeschool co-op we are part of and can't wait for more!

We will have a little bit of time off for summer break, then do a light summer session, mostly math and a literature unit study on Chronicles of Narnia. Maybe a little Doctor Who unit study. :) My oldest has gotten into Doctor Who with me, and we also enjoy "The Sarah Jane Adventures" we found at our library!

I appreciate you all coming along on our journey this year as I navigated the shift from a small business owner with two kids in school to a homeschooling mother who gave up her business! Phew! It's been a wild year!

Here's to a super fun summer!!

~~Amy

Penguin Unit Study Wrap Up!

We had a blast this month learning about Penguins! As was with our last theme of Charlotte's Web, it seemed everywhere we turned we found penguins! At the library, the store, online, of course it could've been the frigid time of the year...

We read plenty of short penguin books from the library including the very awesome "One Cool Friend".



We really enjoyed this book and it's very much worth multiple reads because you see many things the second time you didn't see the first. It won a Caldecott Medal in 2013 and it was well deserved, super fun, beautifully illustrated and funny story.

We also read "Mr. Popper's Penguins" as our chapter book and watched the movie with Jim Carrey. I'm very glad we read the book first because the differences between the book and movie were immediate and plentiful. Harrison especially was not happy with the changes. (Good boy! Books are always better!) But it was a good read aloud, and Eli loved when I made the penguin sounds of GORK and ORK!



I made a penguin sensory box one day out of ice cubes, colored water and the Penguin Toobs. We love those little Toobs, can't praise them enough.



The boys had a blast with the box and taking their penguins everywhere. I hope I can keep up with all the Toob's we've purchased so we can reuse them!

We made lots of penguin inspired art of course.

Did a little bit of penguin math....

And of course had to go see the penguins at the Audubon Aquarium! They were very active and happy, and it was awesome to see them up close. We are very blessed to live so near to such an awesome resource. If you aren't near such a great place, you can always see our penguins at www.apl.tv!

I think she liked us....

Either way this was a super fun, great unit that we enjoyed and I think the boys learned a lot from.

GORK!

Stay warm!

~~Amy



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January Home School Theme

January is almost here!! December was a short month for us, school wise, thanks to the Winter Break. We enjoyed the theme of Snow last month, but we didn't even get to Penguins! January was supposed to be Presidents and Dental Health...well, plans change and I think Penguins would still be super fun to study. So we shall carry on with Penguins for our monthly study with a President's Day study on the proper day.


Blubber Experiment: http://octopus.gma.org/surfing/antarctica/blubber.html

Watch Mr. Popper's Penguins and Read Aloud


 
Fun Penguin Crafts:http://www.havingfunathome.com/2012/01/preschool-penguin-crafts.html
Cute penguin template for paper, felt, fabric.http://sweetandlovelycrafts.blogspot.ca/2012/11/cute-penguin-craft.html

And of course go to the Audubon Aquarium and visit the penguins!


Watch "March of the Penguins" and adapt this lesson plan from Teach with Movies http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/march-of-the-penguins.html




Watch "Happy Feet"
and adapt the lesson plan from: http://www.teachwithmovies.org/talking-and-playing/happy-feet-t-p.html

Do you have any fun penguin activities? 

November Home School Theme

Naturally this month will be THANKSGIVING! This is my FAVORITE time of year! I love remembering to do the 30 days of thankfulness, learning about the history, eating yummy foods, watching great football, fall scented candles, cool weather, leaves, oh I could go on and on! So here are some Thanksgiving activities we want to try this month!

Thanksgiving Bible Printables.

Thanksgiving Number Sort

Thanksgiving Notebooking Ideas

And a ton of ideas over here on this great blog: http://www.thebettermom.com/2013/10/30/thanksgiving-freebies-free-educational-resources-for-thanksgiving/

We are only doing "school" for the first three weeks of November, then taking off Thanksgiving week so they have plenty of time to play with their public school friends and enjoy the holiday with our family.  It's a busy and beautiful month and I look forward to not much online time but plenty of in real LIFE time!!
~~Amy